Prepare for the future by connecting to the past

Published: Monday, November 25, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, November 22, 2013 at 4:46 p.m.

“Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / what I was walling in or walling out / and to whom I was like to give offense.”

— Robert Frost, Mending Wall

The term “Good fences make good neighbors” arose from Robert Frost's potent poem, “Mending Wall,” in 1914. It depicts two farmers who work to rebuild their wall while one questions its necessity since his field only grows apple trees, which will never cross into the neighbor's garden to eat the pine.

The metaphor of “good neighbors” has become an American truism despite Robert Frost's obvious ironic tone revealing his true purpose, that boundaries are what alienate us from each other, not what bring us together.

I mention this as prelude to discussing an important program held this month in our community titled “Preparing for the Future by Reconnecting with our Self-Reliance,” which featured one of the world's leading experts on the economy and energy policy, Nicole Foss; Laurence Boomert, a sustainability expert; and a panel of our community's elders, led by local historian and seventh-generation native Jennie Jones Giles.

The program highlighted not only what might be in store for us but also the value of community in buffering the difficult times ahead.

It should not take anyone by surprise that our economy is extremely fragile despite continued blather from pundits that “the recession is over.” The reality is that few but the very rich have experienced the spoils of our alleged “economic turnaround.”

In our community, a growing section in the local newspaper is the foreclosure listings in the classifieds. A large growth area in our local economy seems to be consignment shops and secondhand stores. Our local soup kitchens and homeless shelters report an unprecedented avalanche of community need as more of our local residents find themselves unemployed or underemployed.

Our community faced many hard times in the past, and our community's natives were on hand to discuss how they persevered. Giles explained that our local economy was based upon self-sustaining farmers for much of its history. Families grew their own food, supplemented with fishing and hunting. For winter, meat was smoked and vegetables were canned. Clothing was made from flax and wool and woven and sewn by hand.

People did not have much, but the prosperity that came from the ground, from their friends and neighbors and from working with their hands gave them everything they needed.

Alma Avery picked apples, grew a garden, baked, cut timber and canned when she wasn't working at a local factory. Leon Pace picked up the farming duties in his household, learned the medicinal and nutritional value of wild plants and worked several decades at the Ecusta Paper Mill in Brevard.

They all agreed that younger generations who had not picked up the old ways left themselves vulnerable in difficult times.

Foss, who was completing a worldwide tour, explained that some people feel confident about the future and their purchasing power, but much of that is smoke and mirrors. Ninety percent of our purchasing power comes from a massive credit expansion based on the use of credit instruments as money.

Europe is a good window into our future. Its unemployment is rising steadily, services are being cut, fees are being imposed, and a systemic banking crisis is in progress.

Foss discussed how little we've learned since the Great Depression 84 years ago. Our economic history is one of booms and busts, a series of economic expansions followed by a series of contractions. Her major concern is that during better times, we've made an awful lot of promises that are essentially IOUs, but when economic activity reaches its limit, those promises will be broken.

There are a wide range of loans that are enormously under-collateralized and when this happens, everyone will be fighting to grab his or her piece of real wealth. Foss likens this to a game of musical chairs where there's only one chair for every 100 people.

Our financial institutions around the country hold debt instruments including notes, bonds and mortgages that have value because the underlining collateral has value. When that collateral collapses, the value of those debt instruments is going to collapse as well. So when the collateral drops to pennies on the dollar, which Foss believes they will, it will take the financial institutions down as well.

She analogizes the real economy compared to Enron before it imploded. Enron looked like a great, robust company until two weeks before it imploded. The shell looked large and strong, but the substance had been entirely cannibalized. This is what we've done with our global economy. We've consumed the internal substance upon which it rests.

Foss suggested that our community's future depends upon investing in the local economy by supporting local producers, co-ops and supply chains, and pooling resources such as tools and skills. Both Foss and Boomert discussed the social capital that's gained through community gardens, local bartering and sharing.

In conclusion, Foss counseled that “we are the ones we've been waiting for.” The future belongs to communities that are willing to adapt to the coming storms and learn to become self-reliant. Rather than building fences between neighbors, the participants made clear that the new slogan ought to be, “When we grow food together, we all thrive together.”

David Weintraub is a writer, filmmaker and environmental troublemaker who runs the Center for Cultural Preservation. He can be reached at 828-692-8062 or www.saveculture.org.

<p>“Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / what I was walling in or walling out / and to whom I was like to give offense.”</p><p>— Robert Frost, Mending Wall</p><p>The term “Good fences make good neighbors” arose from Robert Frost's potent poem, “Mending Wall,” in 1914. It depicts two farmers who work to rebuild their wall while one questions its necessity since his field only grows apple trees, which will never cross into the neighbor's garden to eat the pine.</p><p>The metaphor of “good neighbors” has become an American truism despite Robert Frost's obvious ironic tone revealing his true purpose, that boundaries are what alienate us from each other, not what bring us together.</p><p>I mention this as prelude to discussing an important program held this month in our community titled “Preparing for the Future by Reconnecting with our Self-Reliance,” which featured one of the world's leading experts on the economy and energy policy, Nicole Foss; Laurence Boomert, a sustainability expert; and a panel of our community's elders, led by local historian and seventh-generation native Jennie Jones Giles.</p><p>The program highlighted not only what might be in store for us but also the value of community in buffering the difficult times ahead.</p><p>It should not take anyone by surprise that our economy is extremely fragile despite continued blather from pundits that “the recession is over.” The reality is that few but the very rich have experienced the spoils of our alleged “economic turnaround.”</p><p>In our community, a growing section in the local newspaper is the foreclosure listings in the classifieds. A large growth area in our local economy seems to be consignment shops and secondhand stores. Our local soup kitchens and homeless shelters report an unprecedented avalanche of community need as more of our local residents find themselves unemployed or underemployed.</p><p>Our community faced many hard times in the past, and our community's natives were on hand to discuss how they persevered. Giles explained that our local economy was based upon self-sustaining farmers for much of its history. Families grew their own food, supplemented with fishing and hunting. For winter, meat was smoked and vegetables were canned. Clothing was made from flax and wool and woven and sewn by hand.</p><p>People did not have much, but the prosperity that came from the ground, from their friends and neighbors and from working with their hands gave them everything they needed.</p><p>Alma Avery picked apples, grew a garden, baked, cut timber and canned when she wasn't working at a local factory. Leon Pace picked up the farming duties in his household, learned the medicinal and nutritional value of wild plants and worked several decades at the Ecusta Paper Mill in Brevard.</p><p>They all agreed that younger generations who had not picked up the old ways left themselves vulnerable in difficult times.</p><p>Foss, who was completing a worldwide tour, explained that some people feel confident about the future and their purchasing power, but much of that is smoke and mirrors. Ninety percent of our purchasing power comes from a massive credit expansion based on the use of credit instruments as money.</p><p>Europe is a good window into our future. Its unemployment is rising steadily, services are being cut, fees are being imposed, and a systemic banking crisis is in progress.</p><p>Foss discussed how little we've learned since the Great Depression 84 years ago. Our economic history is one of booms and busts, a series of economic expansions followed by a series of contractions. Her major concern is that during better times, we've made an awful lot of promises that are essentially IOUs, but when economic activity reaches its limit, those promises will be broken.</p><p>There are a wide range of loans that are enormously under-collateralized and when this happens, everyone will be fighting to grab his or her piece of real wealth. Foss likens this to a game of musical chairs where there's only one chair for every 100 people.</p><p>Our financial institutions around the country hold debt instruments including notes, bonds and mortgages that have value because the underlining collateral has value. When that collateral collapses, the value of those debt instruments is going to collapse as well. So when the collateral drops to pennies on the dollar, which Foss believes they will, it will take the financial institutions down as well.</p><p>She analogizes the real economy compared to Enron before it imploded. Enron looked like a great, robust company until two weeks before it imploded. The shell looked large and strong, but the substance had been entirely cannibalized. This is what we've done with our global economy. We've consumed the internal substance upon which it rests.</p><p>Foss suggested that our community's future depends upon investing in the local economy by supporting local producers, co-ops and supply chains, and pooling resources such as tools and skills. Both Foss and Boomert discussed the social capital that's gained through community gardens, local bartering and sharing.</p><p>In conclusion, Foss counseled that “we are the ones we've been waiting for.” The future belongs to communities that are willing to adapt to the coming storms and learn to become self-reliant. Rather than building fences between neighbors, the participants made clear that the new slogan ought to be, “When we grow food together, we all thrive together.”</p><p><i>David Weintraub is a writer, filmmaker and environmental troublemaker who runs the Center for Cultural Preservation. He can be reached at 828-692-8062 or www.saveculture.org.</p>